蔡自富的部落格

[This is a translation of blog/%E8%94%A1%E8%87%AA%E5%AF%8C/index_b-38.html for the benefit of Paul who can't read Chinese.]

I roamed Bolton Flags WMA for 2 hours yesterday (Oct-20-2009) and encountered nothing. Got a call from Paul around noontime so I went again in the PM.

Not very far into the field, Paul delivered lessons of the day: “Don’t sling the gun on the back nor lay it on the shoulder! You are here to hunt, so be prepared when opportunity presents itself.”

Well, it is easier said than done. Holding an 8lb shotgun around through the woods and bushes for hours is very tiring, to say the least.

“Paul, I’ve been thinking about going to the hunting camps where there are infinite number of easy pheasants for me.”
“Well, then it is not hunting any more, it is shooting!”
“Yes you are right. But it is hard on the morale when after a hard day’s work, there is nothing to show for.”

So Paul got me walking 50ft on the side. We not only covered more area, but I also got to shoot if conditions were right. Whenever Linus went on-point, Paul would suggest a spot for me to get ready on. I had a couple of chances but only fired once.

Linus is hardworking and honest but when there was no pheasant he wouldn’t be able to flush one out. So we went back to woodcock hunting mode and traversed along more or less the same path as we first met.

Neither woodcock nor pheasant is good flier. They fly a bit and then stop. My 2nd lesson of the day was to visually follow the bird all-the-way until it lands, whether a good hit is scored or not. The rationale is simple, in their habitat, birds are very easy to blend in to the surroundings. Once they land, they merge into the environment and it is very difficult to find them visually. So it is useless to know just the general direction of the flight.

Paul seems to be around 75 years old, and yet he has a fast pace and does not get tired holding the gun for 2 hours. Returned to parking lot we chatted more and then part ways.

Today’s (Oct-21-2009) schedule was fishing first and hunting second. I thought the pheasant truck would come in the PM, so I had plenty of time to fish. And when it did, I’d switch into hunting mode.

Around 10:30AM, I walked along the Still River and tried my luck in fishing. Within 5 min I caught a small Pike roughly 12”. Pike is the tiger of fresh water ecology. It has very sharp teeth. I know ‘cause my thumb slipped into the mouth of one, got chewed on, and lost a lot of blood in my “early fishing career”. So I took the Pike off cautiously and threw it back.

Fished a bit more I started to hear gunshots, more and more of them. Must have been 25 to 30 shots within a short period. Finally it lead to one conclusion – “The pheasants are here!” So I hurried over to an open grassland area that appeared to have nobody else around. “I can’t compete with those who have dogs.” I spoke to myself.

Suddenly, I saw the tall grass in front wavering as if something clumsy was rushing through underneath. That’s when I started to get nervous.
“It’s been days since I started hunting and still got nothing to show. Will I be able to cease the opportunity?” “Does my wing shooting skill good enough?”

As I cautiously got closer, my "buddy" in the bushes sensed the danger and suddenly changed its direction. So I picked up my pace to match. In a few more steps, a cock suddenly fluttered its wings and rise up into the sky from 10 yd away.

Pheasant is larger than most birds and its climbing speed is rather limited. With an almost reflective motion, my shotgun barrel caught up with the bird and shot was fired. That pheasant acted as if it was hit by lightening. It fluttered the wings hopelessly, rolled side to side twice before falling down to the ground. I hurried over wondering whether I had hurt it enough. Would it fly away or run away?

The bird faced down with the eyes close shut. Wings flapping and the back pushing upwards as if to get up, but the struggle was futile and short. Within 10 seconds the chaos ceased and the fight was lost. The bird expired under my sorrowful watch. So there it was, the first pheasant I hunted with my own gun. What a colorful plumage! I felt sorry and satisfied in the same time as I took its photo.

With one pheasant in my backpack, I decided it was a success. I’d have story to tell already. So I decided to do a bit more fishing in Nashua River. Within 5 min I got a white fish that I have never seen before. Stayed the same spot for 10 more min. produced nothing so I packed up and started moving again.

I wanted to go south to the pheasant release location just to see it for myself. But the swamp along the Nashua River is huge and my GPS is kind of inaccurate about coordinates of the river. Many times it showed that I crossed over to the other side of the river. I spent a long time trying to go around the swamp and ended up moving farther south along the river. Then there were dense vegetation that I had to push through with brute force. I tripped a couple of times while doing so.

Finally I came to an open area and just when I decided to catch my breadth a bit, something rushed away from the corner of my eye. It was a brown shadow the size of a rabbit or smaller woodchuck dashing into a bush. Thanks to Paul’s lesson, my gun was ready and I trained on it and pulled 2 shots hastily. That thing went through the bushes to the other side and suddenly flew up. It was a hen pheasant!

Both my shots missed and I got nothing more in the magazine. Thanks to Paul’s 2nd lesson, I watched intently and followed the bird all the way to its landing. It was less than 100yds away. “Great, I still have chance!”

Then I realized I only got 1 shot left. I had carried more than 10 shots with my before and never saw much action. So I decided to take 4 shots today.
“Will I be able to take it with 1 shot?” “Well you have to. There is no other way!”

I chambered the last round and aimed for the landing zone. I cautiously crossed 2 swampy areas and slowly step up the gentle sloop of the LZ. There is no place to hide other than autumn leaves on the ground and yet the bird wasn’t flushed out. “So where does it go?” I looked around and found it finally and it was bedded exactly where the LZ is. Taking advantage of the shadows and leaves, the hen was not discernible in the eyes of most animals. Most non-human, that is.

The distance was only 5yds and my gun is ready.
“But why isn’t it moving? Is it injured? Shall I just go and pick it up?”
“Did you forget how it was flying? Absolutely not injured!”

So the answer is false. And at this distance there is no need to shoot the center of mass – it will only cause too much hassle in the post processing! So I aimed at the head and pulled the trigger…


You must have heard of story of headless chicken Mike http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken right? I’d like to leave this part just like that.

After making sure the bird was dead, I put today’s harvest together and took a photo of happy family. And it was time to go home.

At home, I showed my dog Orange these birds in the hope that might inspire him, stir up some hunting dog instinct. But it was very disappointed. Orange seemed rather scared of the dead birds.

When my son Alex came home, he thought these were “woodcock”. All I’ve been telling them about so far has been woodcock. So it is not a surprise to get a wrong anser.


The fish was very easy to clean and gut, but not the pheasant, at least not in the beginning. It was hard to pluck the feathers but I soon get the trick. Unlike regular chicken, pheasant’s skin is easy to peel off along with the feathers, almost as simple as pulling the rabbit’s coat.

By this time, the pheasant bodies were still quite warm. I learned to
1. use scissors to cut off the head, feet and tail
2. pull the skin along with the plumage
3. gut the belly and pull out the intestines
4. flush and pack it up

I examined closely and found no damage on the hen but some on the cock. There were 7 shot wounds on the right leg (and even broke the thigh bone) and 6 on the breast. The shot size was #8. I tried to get rid of the tiny shots but failed.

It was time to prepare for dinner. Without a decent receipt I decided to cook the fish first. The pheasants can wait.